The Lost Command (Lost Starship Series Book 2) (42 page)

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“I think I have it,” Ludendorff told Maddox twenty-seven hours later.

“The disruptor cannon works?” Maddox asked. He stood on the bridge, speaking to the professor via the main screen. The older man was in the disruptor chamber.

“No,” Ludendorff said. “The ancient cannon isn’t working yet, but I think I understand the key principle.”

“Sir,” Valerie said, indicating her smaller screen.

“Show me,” Maddox told her. “Split the big screen.”

The lieutenant manipulated her board. One-half of the main screen showed Ludendorff with Galyan behind him. The other half showed the two fleets approaching one another.

A green number appeared on the fleet half. According to it, the New Men would be able to reach the leading elements of the Fifth Fleet with their long-range beam in approximately twenty minutes.

Ludendorff was still speaking. “The disruptor principle is an amazing use of applied physical—”

“Professor!” Maddox said, interrupting the man. “Show me how it works. Don’t tell me things I don’t understand anyway.”

“That would be a problem,” Ludendorff said. “Making the disruptor operational will take me three days of—”

“You must know we don’t have that long,” Maddox said, interrupting once more.

“You’re not listening to me,” Ludendorff complained. “You’re too fixated upon saving these lost ships.”

“You’re right about that,” Maddox said.

Ludendorff shook his head. “There is no saving them, Captain. It’s a hopeless situation. Now we at least possess a new and powerful ray. We must concentrate on what we can achieve, not wish for a miracle.”

“I want you to make the disruptor ray operational
now
,” Maddox said.

Ludendorff stared at the captain. Finally, the professor said, “I could conceivably jury-rig—”

“Yes, do that,” Maddox said.

“Let me finish,” Ludendorff said, beginning to look annoyed. “I could jury-rig a system, but it might burn out the main component. If that happens, the disruptor ray is gone forever. There goes our chance of future victories over the New Men.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Maddox said.

“Of course it does. The jury-rigging would let us use the disruptor cannon for a few shots. Unfortunately, the cannon’s interior mechanisms will heat up rapidly. Some of those unique parts will melt into slag. To use the ray effectively, I would need a de-atomizer and a heat bleeder to dissipate the build-up of surplus energy. Are you beginning to see the problem?”

“Spell it out for me,” Maddox said.

“Not only could we lose the disruptor cannon. We might build-up such a surplus of energy that it all unleashes at once. In other words, we would blow up our prized vessel. We would die and—”

“No, no, no,” Galyan said from behind the man. “I will not allow such an event. I will not risk my existence on such a haphazard scheme.”

Maddox glanced at Valerie. She frowned severely.

The captain stood up, turned his back on the main screen and walked toward the hatch. What kind of decision was this? Future victories over the New Men rested on the ancient starship. Star Watch also needed the Fifth Fleet to fight the interstellar war. What was the best course to take?

His mother had likely fled a gene-splicing laboratory in the Beyond. She had run away to fight again another day. Unfortunately, she’d never had that day, although her action had given him one. Could he throw his life away on a poor jury-rigging that exploded
Victory
?

Maddox faced the screen. Battles were risks. If the New Men faced a disruptor ray beaming the same distance that their weapons could reach, it could shake their confidence.

“Jury-rig the disruptor cannon,” Maddox said.

“No!” Galyan said from behind Ludendorff. The holoimage vanished and reappeared before the captain on the bridge.

“The starship is the last legacy of the Adoks,” Galyan said. “That is too precious to risk on a mad gamble.”

Maddox searched for the right argument. Finally, he told the AI, “You trusted me once, and it came out in your favor. Now, I’m asking you to trust me again.”

Galyan looked away. “You are making this difficult for me.”

“Your people died a brutal death to the Swarm. Don’t let mine die to these perverted idealists. We need the disruptor cannon, and we need it now.”

Galyan bowed his head. The seconds passed in silence. Finally, the AI said, “Lead me, Captain Maddox. I will follow you into oblivion if this is to be our destination.”

“We’re going to win this fight,” Maddox said. “I want you to return to the chamber and help Ludendorff fix your cannon.”

Galyan looked up. Then, the holoimage disappeared.

“Put me through to Admiral Fletcher,” Maddox told Valerie.

With a start, Valerie turned back to her panel.

A few moments later, the admiral appeared on the split-screen. He wore his slackly-hanging dress uniform as he sat in his command chair. Fire burned in his eyes, though.

“Trouble?” Fletcher asked.

“No, sir,” Maddox said. “It’s possible I can work the disruptor ray.”

Fletcher’s features hardened. “There’s an ‘if’ with this.”

“Yes, sir,” Maddox said. “There is.”

“What is it?”

Maddox told him.

“I’m not sure you’re making the wise choice,” Fletcher said.

“You could be right, sir.”

“In fact, the more I think about it, the more I believe you should run away to fight again another day.”

“Fortunately, sir, it’s not your decision to make. It’s mine.”

Fletcher stared at Maddox. Impassively, the captain held the admiral’s glare.

“You’re a cheeky bastard,” Fletcher told him.

“I’ve heard that before, sir.”

“I pray you’re right about this ray.”

“Yes, sir,” Maddox said. “That means I’m bringing
Victory
forward to join the battleships.”

“You’re taking a lot on yourself, Captain. Have you stopped to think you may…?”

“Sir?” Maddox asked.

Fletcher nodded abruptly. “I accept your decision, Captain. I’ll admit wanting to live has something to do with it. But it’s more than that. These New Men have snookered me every way to Sunday. I’m sick of it. I want to bash them hard. If we can destroy the invasion armada, then I say let’s give it everything we have.”

“We’re on our way, sir. Captain Maddox, out.”

***

The two fleets headed toward each other. The New Men moved slowly, heading out-system. The star cruisers began to merge into their deadly cone formation. Last time, they had combined the many beams into one gigantic force of annihilation. Could the colossal ray destroy
Victory
in a short amount of time?

The Fifth Fleet had fifteen times higher velocity than the enemy armada. The Fifth moved in-system toward the Laumer-Point near the star. The battleships, the best heavy cruisers and the empty motherships formed a front sheet of armored vessels. Now, Starship
Victory
headed toward the firing line. Waiting in the back were the worst damaged vessels, the smaller ships and the loaded carriers.

On the bridge of
Victory
, Maddox sat in the command chair. Valerie had communications and scanning, while Keith piloted the ancient starship.

“Professor?” the captain asked.

“It’s set up,” Ludendorff said on the screen. “But I have no idea how long the cannon will fire and how we’ll dissipate the excess energy.”

“Lieutenant?” Maddox asked.

Valerie made some quick adjustments on her board. “I have one of their star cruisers targeted, sir.”

“Let’s wait a few minutes longer,” Maddox said.

Valerie didn’t nod. She watched her board with total concentration.

Several minutes later, the massed enemy beams merged into one giant ray. It smashed out of the void and struck a battleship’s new wave harmonics. The hellish energy turned the shield a bright cherry red. The affected area grew in a concave shape, showing the spheroid nature of the shield. Almost immediately, the spot nearest the hitting beam became brown, darkening every second toward black. If a big enough area became black, the shield would collapse. Once that happened, the hull armor would have to absorb twenty-four beams striking as one. It was a pitiless strategy on the enemy’s part.

Victory
reached the Fifth Fleet’s forward sheet of vessels. It slid among the battleships, cruisers and empty motherships.

“Fire,” Maddox said in a low voice.

The giant antimatter engines inside
Victory
began to howl as they built up power.

“What’s happening, Professor,” Maddox shouted.

“The disruptor beam takes fantastic levels of energy,” Ludendorff said on the split-screen. “I can’t talk. I have to monitor the board, judging this to a nicety.”

The howl rose even higher.

Keith clapped his hand over his ears. Valerie hunched her head. Maddox sat straight, refusing to acknowledge the danger or the noise.

Ludendorff spoke on the split-screen. Maddox couldn’t hear his words above the howl.

The captain understood though. He jumped up and strode to Valerie, squeezing her shoulder. She jerked in surprise, staring up at him. He nodded sharply. She whipped back toward her board and pressed the firing button.

The howl weakened to a whine. A new sound started, growling like a hungry slarn. The growling intensified: building, building and then a release noise told Maddox the cannon fired its deadly disruptor ray.

With his right hand on Valerie’s shoulder, Maddox bent over and watched her screen.

The disruptor ray did not beam like a laser in a continuous line. Instead, it ejected as a blob of force.

Was this even a beam at all? Maddox decided not to worry about it. He straightened, turning to the main screen. “Build up for another shot,” he said.

“I don’t recommend it,” Ludendorff said.

“Do it,” Maddox said. “We may need a second shot to kill the star cruiser.”

“Right,” Ludendorff said. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

At that moment, Valerie stiffened. Maddox turned in time to see the effect of the disruptor ray.

The blob of force struck a star cruiser’s shield. The entire electromagnetic screen went black with overload, and then it went down.

Valerie blinked with amazement. “Do you see that, sir?” she whispered.

“I do. Ludendorff!” Maddox shouted.

The antimatter howl began anew.

“Track that star cruiser,” Maddox said. “We have to kill it before it can retreat behind a different vessel.”

At that moment, the enemy’s intense, combined beam knocked down Battleship
Blucher’s
shield. The massive ray now heated the hull armor, burning through the thick, toughened metal. It would be a matter of a minute or less before the beam destroyed the
Bismarck
-class battleship.

“Now,” Ludendorff said. “The cannon is ready. You must fire at once, as I can’t bleed away excess energy.”

“Target the same star cruiser!” Maddox shouted.

Valerie did so, and the disruptor cannon fired again. It was a race of seconds as the ray moved at the speed of light, heading for the star cruiser trying to do a mouse down its hole—trying to hide behind another of its kind.

The enemy lost the race. The second disruptor shot stuck the star cruiser’s hull armor, blasting through and starting a chain-reaction within the vessel. The enemy ship finally managed to sneak behind another star cruiser. Then, it must have exploded. A white flare of brilliance told of the vessel’s end. The star cruiser’s inner core must have blown.

“Look, sir!” Valerie shouted. “A dozen star cruiser shields are turning red. Now, they’re brown.”

“I suggest we let the cannon cool,” Ludendorff shouted on the screen.

“Are you mad?” Maddox asked. “We have a weapon the New Men can’t believe we own. Pound them hard. Don’t give them time to think.”

“The risk rises, Captain,” the professor said.

“I understand,” Maddox said. “Two more shots, Ludendorff. I want them.”

As the enemy cone formation kept beaming, the giant ray burned through Battleship
Blucher’s
armor. The beam turned interior decks into slag and struck the engine core. A titanic explosion told of the battleship’s end. Mass—decking, engines, food, munitions, people and water—and billowing heat expanded, hurling the debris and energy outward in a giant sphere. The nearest Star Watch vessels took the brunt of the blast. Their shields went critical, but held just barely.

Victory
was far enough away that none of the destroying blast reached the starship. The disruptor cannon fired its third and fourth rays in close succession.

The result proved just as fantastic as the first time. Another star cruiser blew up, turning more nearby enemy shields red and then brown. One of the previously stricken vessels lost its shielding.